Wading River comms tower gets Town Board OK, over protests of residents

The Riverhead Town Board allowed the construction of a new commercial communications tower at the Wading River Fire Department headquarters to go forward on Tuesday, but not after hearing protests from some Wading River residents who may sue to stop the project.

The Town Board voted unanimously to exempt the telecommunications company Elite Towers, Verizon Wireless and the Wading River Fire District from local zoning laws and allow a 190-foot-tall pole with cellular and communications antennas behind the Wading River Fire Department’s headquarters to be built. The structure, whose height with antennas will reach 213 feet, is not permitted under the zoning laws of the site, which is right in the middle of a residential area.

The company is building the tower at the location to cover an area with poor radio and cell service, according to officials. Hosting the tower would also bring in revenue for the fire department, which its leadership has said it would use to upgrade equipment. 

The Town Board’s resolution exempted the project from zoning and land use regulations and many approvals, using a standard known as the “Monroe Balancing Test,” which can be used for projects on government land if it is in the public interest. 

MORE COVERAGE: Town Board poised to rule on Wading River communications tower application Tuesday

More than two dozen residents from Wading River have organized against the project and hired an attorney specializing in anti-cell tower lawsuits, Andrew Campanelli of Merrick, to try to stop the board from approving the communications tower. Campanelli and some of the residents, who call themselves the Wading River Community Action Committee, spoke before the board’s vote Tuesday. The residents said they are worried about the tower’s height and its aesthetic impact to the area; effects on their property values; and the potential health effects of radio frequency waves emanating from cellular antennas.

After the board passed its resolution, the residents discussed with Campanelli and each other the possibility of suing to stop the communication tower’s development.

Campanelli, who said he has been handling cell tower cases across the country “for decades,” told the board that allowing the tower “would be the most irresponsible action I’ve seen by any local government agency anywhere in the United States.” 

Campanelli said there is “absolutely no evidence” of anyone benefiting from the project. “It will inflict upon the nearby homes and surrounding community the precise types of adverse impacts that the Town of Riverhead adopted a zoning code to prevent in the first place,” he said.

He called the evidence the telecommunications company gave the board for assessing the aesthetic impact of the project “garbage” and disparaged other documents and data provided by the company in support of the tower. Campanelli said other dangers can arise if the communications tower collapses; if ice or debris falls from the tower; or if the tower catches on fire. 

Gregory Alvarez, an attorney for the applicants, said he’s “heard [Campanelli’s] story before, recycled again and again. In terms of data and in terms of supplying sufficient information as part of the record here, we did, in fact, provide that information,” he said. “I invite Mr. Campanelli to read it to make sure. But we’re just here to present the facts and we’ve done that.”

Town Board members, before the vote, vehemently defended the plan for the communications tower, arguing the tower was necessary for the safety and wellbeing of the area’s residents. The failure of emergency responders’ communication equipment could threaten the lives of residents and the responders, according to town and fire officials; improved service in the area would also help residents trying to contact emergency personnel from their cell phone, they said. 

“The benefit is about protecting life and property and the safety of every resident in this town,” said Council Member Ken Rothwell, who is a member of the Wading River Fire Department.

In addition to the fire department being able to communicate using the tower, the town’s approval is conditioned on an agreement that allows it to locate “necessary” wireless communication equipment, including for the town police department, at the tower.

Supervisor Tim Hubbard, a former Riverhead Town police officer, said radio service for police in the Wading River area is “pathetic.” There is a “dire need” for the communications tower, he said. 

“I understand the residents’ feeling, because if this were built within 50 feet of my house, my first reaction would be: No way. I don’t want to see that,” Hubbard said. “But when I look at the whole picture — and the whole picture is a matter of me, [if] I call [and] I’m having a heart attack and I can’t get help to come there because I can’t get through to EMS — that far outweighs any concern I have about a tower that’s put up within 50 feet of my house.”

One Wading River resident, Nicholas DiPirro, spoke at the meeting in favor of the communications tower. He recounted how, years ago, his neighborhood was against stop signs on a particular road; then, a child was hit by a car and died, waking the whole neighborhood up to the need for the stop signs.

“My question today to those who oppose this tower: If they individually fell down in front of the firehouse and they had a cell phone with them, would they be able to reach 911 for help?” DiPirro said. “Are they only thinking of their own parochial interest, or are they thinking of the community as a whole? I have to ask: Does someone have to die first?”

After the Town Board voted, the resident group opposed to the tower gathered outside the meeting room to discuss with Campanelli the possibility of litigation to stop the cell tower’s development. In an interview after the meeting, Campanelli called the board’s decision “irresponsible” and said the residents have “several different options” available to them.

“My clients are very upset. If I was getting a 21-story tower put 50 feet from my house, I’d certainly consider [a lawsuit] — and I think they are considering it,” he said.

Dennis Traina, one of the Wading River residents who opposes the tower and retained Campanelli, said in an interview after the meeting that he thinks it would be “wise” to sue “in light of the evidence of both the decrease in property value, the potentiality of having this large cell tower right over our homes, radiation issues or sicknesses that we might come across from being so close to the tower.” he said. “Absolutely, we’re going to definitely pursue legal action.”